Barry Berkman

A founding partner of Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd, LLP, Barry Berkman received his B.A. degree from Harvard College and his law degree from Stanford University.   Specializing in matrimonial law and mediation, he has guided many of his clients to successful, highly satisfactory out-of-court resolutions through the collaborative law process or mediation.   He has served on the American Bar Association Task Force on Standards of Practice for Divorce Mediation and has been a member of the Matrimonial Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.   He has served on the Board of Directors of the Family and Divorce Mediation Counsel of Greater New York, and is a co-founder of the New York Collaborative Law Group.  Mr. Berkman has taught matrimonial law as an adjunct professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and Fordham Law School and teaches mediation at the Center for Mediation in Law.   He has made numerous CLE presentations on behalf of the New York, Westchester and Nassau County Bar Associations, as well as the American Bar Association.    These activities and his reputation for ethical standards and professional ability among his fellow lawyers have earned him the highest rating, AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated SM by Martindale-Hubbell®.Similarly, Mr. Berkman has been selected by his peers for listing in The Best Lawyers in America 2010-2017 editions and in New York Super Lawyers in 2009 thru 2017.   Mr. Berkman recently spoke about collaborative law on National Public Radio’s “This American Life.”

“Our clients are going through an extraordinarily difficult time in their lives, and they know they can count on us to be there for them.”

Education

• Harvard College, B.A., 
• Stanford University Law School, LL.B., 

Admitted to practice law

• New York, 
• United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, 

Professional memberships

• The Association of the Bar of the City of New York
• New York State Bar Association
• American Bar Association (Former Member, Task Force on Standards of Practice in Mediation)
• New York Association of Collaborative Professionals (Founding Member)

Areas of practice

Divorce mediation is a voluntary process where divorcing couples work together with a trained mediator to negotiate and resolve their differences in a non-adversarial forum.  In mediation, no one decides who is right and who is wrong, or who wins and who loses.  The mediator merely facilitates communication and helps you to evaluate your options.

For many divorcing couples, mediation has become a viable alternative to the financial costs and emotional toll of traditional adversarial legal representation.  Sensibly used, mediation provides the opportunity to find fair and realistic solutions to the economic and practical issues facing the family and also helps to heal the psychological rift.  Mediation is based on the premise that the people getting divorced are in the best position to make decisions that will have long-term personal and financial consequences on their lives.

Skillful, Experienced and Effective Mediation Attorneys

At Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd, LLP, we can represent you individually as your outside attorney to the mediation process, or we can provide you and your spouse with a neutral, impartial mediator while you both retain other counsel to represent you individually

212.867.9123